World AIDS Day
by Keresa Arnold
Do Something
TO PREVENT HIV
World AIDS Day has come and gone, but what are you doing to increase awareness, reduce stigma and discrimination and decrease the number of infections? UNAIDS estimates that 34 million people worldwide were living with HIV at the end of 2010 and 2.7 million people were infected in that year. In Jamaica, an estimated 32,000 persons are living with HIV. The Caribbean is second to Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of prevalence rate, at one per cent, with an estimated 240,000 persons living with HIV. What that means is that based on the population size of countries in the region, the rate of infection is significantly high. Interestingly, 53 per cent of persons living with HIV in the Caribbean are women. According to UNAIDS, unprotected sex between men and women − especially paid sex − is thought to be the main mode of transmission.
W
ould you have sex with someone you know to be HIV positive? That was the gist of a question that someone on my Twitter timeline asked. The responses were quite interesting. Many persons expressed that they wouldn’t because that was akin to deliberately asking to become HIV positive too. It got me thinking. Here we have so many persons saying they wouldn’t have sex with someone they know to be HIV positive, yet there are many who willingly have unprotected sex with individuals whose status they don’t know. Isn’t that also highly risky? Isn’t it better to know than not know?
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How much do you know about HIV and what are you doing to educate those around you? HIV reduction isn’t the sole responsibility of the government through public education campaigns. It is the responsibility of every citizen to exercise wisdom in the privacy of their bedroom. One way to do this is to educate yourself and your partner about HIV infection and prevention. Do you always demand that your partner use a condom? When was the last time you got an HIV test? What about your partner? There is a lot that you can do. Dedicate your Facebook status once a week to provide HIV-related information to those on your friends list, or share your knowledge in your office among your co-workers, during your get-togethers with friends or mention it during your everyday conversations. You’ll be surprised at the number of persons who don’t have correct information about how HIV is transmitted. HIV doesn’t have to be an epidemic and you can’t tell if someone is living with HIV by simply looking at them. That’s a myth that has contributed to the spread of HIV, which is why so many persons need to be educated. If you haven’t been doing anything that can help to get to zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths, then start doing something now!
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